Hurricane Ian was wake-up call to improve Florida’s infrastructure resiliency | Opinion

President Biden’s visit to Southwest Florida Wednesday to meet with Gov. DeSantis and see the massive damage caused by Hurricane Ian — and the governor’s willingness to work with the federal government on recovery — represent an impressive moment of bipartisanship.

The president offered a 100% federal cost share for rescue and recovery for 60 days, as requested by the governor. This is double the time-frame of the original federal major disaster declaration. Biden added that, “We’re not leaving until this gets done.” That, and the governor’s thanks — “We appreciate the team effort,” he said — are a refreshing change from the corrosive polarization of state and national politics and a wholly appropriate response to the devastation and tragic loss of life in Ian’s aftermath.

That spirit of bipartisanship must continue and extend not only to hurricane recovery but beyond to the enormous work needed to protect Floridians and make the state truly resilient to mega-storms and climate impacts. With federal infrastructure funds flooding into the state thanks to the Biden administration’s bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), conditions are right for effective action.

The critical test for Florida’s leadership will be its ability to deploy those funds toward projects that will make a difference: a resilient power grid; safeguards such as seawalls and drainage systems; measures to protect waterways, the coast and population centers from climate impacts; and clean energy to mitigate the worst of climate change. Beyond that — no matter which party is in control — the Legislature must work to open new pathways for infrastructure funding, including the significant involvement of the private sector.

When it comes to deploying federal funds, there has been progress, despite partisanship: $1.1 billion of Florida’s IIJA funds go to critically needed Everglades restoration initiatives. The centerpiece, the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir, is a $3.4 billion 50-50 state/federal program.

Even before the president’s visit, DeSantis had shown himself capable of pragmatism. He may have called the IIJA “pork-barrel spending” (his Democratic opponent Charlie Crist voted for it while in the House), but he vetoed a special-interest bill that would have undermined the Everglades reservoir.

The real message of Hurricane Ian and of an array of weather and climate challenges is that the state’s infrastructure is being stressed on an entirely new scale. To make it resilient for decades to come requires private funding.

Why turn to the private sector when federal funding is readily available? First, because climate-resilient infrastructure is expensive — well beyond the scope of what the IIJA, the IRA or any federal or state funding can cover. Beyond that, government funding, while it seems dramatically large, is limited. An oft-cited statistic from the American Society of Civil Engineers tells us that U.S. infrastructure spending is $2.59 trillion short over a 10-year period of the level of investment needed just to keep existing infrastructure in a state of adequate repair. The private sector must close the gap.

There are several options for private-sector funding. Simply expanding the use of traditional public-private partnerships will encourage the private sector to participate. In addition, “public-public partnerships” — with state pension funds investing directly in public infrastructure projects — would bring significant assets to bear. There are other benefits: Involving the Florida Retirement System in acquiring and investing in infrastructure assets might reduce the system’s unfunded liabilities, which in 2021 had ballooned to $36 billion. Finally, it is time to create a Florida Infrastructure Bank that would direct private and public funds to infrastructure projects and advise public officials on which projects to fund.

These ideas have not been much in evidence during this year’s election cycle. Nor has infrastructure as a whole been much discussed, though Democratic Senate candidate Val Demings advocated last May for the use of IIJA funds in Florida and called attention to the many projects (a subset of 4,300 nationwide) receiving IIJA funding. Her rival, Sen. Marco Rubio, called the bill “wasteful” after voting against it in August 2021. The relative lack of focus on infrastructure is a grave omission, as Hurricane Ian shows.

With weeks to go until Election Day, policymakers must remember that the state does not need culture warriors. It needs effective, innovative solutions to real and devastating threats.

Sadek Wahba, Ph.D., of Miami, is a member of the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council and of the Global Advisory Council of the Wilson Center, the U.S.’ key nonpartisan policy forum for tackling global issues. He is also chairman of I Squared Capital. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of those organizations.